08/12/2026
Let's get started with these Union County-related posts from the European vacation!
Of all the historic places visited during our recent trip across Europe, there were some that had connections back home to Union County that most people would probably never expect. One of those places was London's legendary Central Criminal Court, better known throughout the world as the Old Bailey Court. Standing outside this famous courthouse was already special for someone fascinated by history. The "Old Bailey," as it is more familiarly known in short, has been the setting for some of Britain's most famous and notorious criminal trials, with a history stretching back centuries. But for us, there was another, much more local reason for stopping here. More than 80 years ago, a man from the small mountain town of Blairsville, Georgia, once sat on the bench inside.
That man was Charles Simpson Reid. Born in Blairsville in September of 1897, Reid's life would eventually take him remarkably far from the mountains of Union County that he grew up knowing. After becoming an attorney, Reid rose through Georgia's legal world and eventually made it all the way to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Following the sudden death of Chief Justice Richard Russell Sr. on December 3rd, 1938, Reid was appointed to succeed him and took his oath of office just two weeks later. He was only 41 years old. In doing so, Reid became the youngest Chief Justice in Georgia Supreme Court history, a distinction he still appears to hold more than 85 years later. Even more remarkably, accounts of Reid's life describe him as the youngest sitting state Supreme Court Chief Justice anywhere in the United States at the time of his appointment. Reid would serve as Georgia's Chief Justice for approximately 5 years, from 1938 until 1943. And, he did such a great job, in fact, that even President Franklin Delano Roosevelt himself even considered Reid for a position on the United States Supreme Court and even met with him to talk over the matter.
Then came World War II. In 1943, at the height of an already remarkable legal career, Reid did something extraordinary. He resigned from the Georgia Supreme Court and entered the United States Army. After receiving training in military government, Reid was sent to England in January 1944, where he became involved in property control and military-government work on the staff of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander and the future 34th President of the United States. For a former Georgia Chief Justice from Blairsville, that alone would have made for an incredible story, but it was during Reid's time in England that another unusual opportunity came his way. One that would bring his story directly to the courthouse pictured with this post.
Charles Simpson Reid was invited to sit as a judge at the Old Bailey. Newspaper accounts from the time reported that Reid sat jointly with noted British jurist Sir Norman Birkett during criminal proceedings inside the famous London courthouse. Birkett himself would later become Britain's alternate judge at the historic Nuremberg Trials, the post-World War II proceedings in which leading N**i officials were prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace. According to the newspaper accounts describing Reid's appearance at the Old Bailey, Reid and Birkett presided over a manslaughter case that resulted in a guilty verdict and also handled guilty pleas involving other criminal cases. Contemporary accounts went even further in describing just how unusual Reid's presence on that bench actually was, reporting that he was the first person who was neither a British subject nor a member of the King's court to receive such an honor.
Think about that for a moment. A man born in the small mountain town of Blairsville, Georgia, ultimately found himself sitting alongside one of Britain's prominent jurists inside one of the most famous criminal courts in the world. And Reid's remarkable wartime story didn't end there. After serving in England and accompanying the Allied advance through France and Germany, Reid continued his military-government work under Lt. Gen. Lucius D. Clay. He became chief of the Property Control Branch connected with reparations, deliveries, and restitution and became involved in the enormous task of administering occupied Germany following the collapse of N**i rule. Reid also served as chairman of the board responsible for properties belonging to the massive I.G. Farben industrial organization within the American occupation zone. He was even present when the International Military Tribunal convened in Berlin to hear the indictments that would lead to the Nuremberg Trials, although Reid himself was not an official participant in those proceedings. For his wartime service, Reid was ultimately awarded the Legion of Merit.
Eventually, the former Chief Justice returned home to Georgia and resumed practicing law, bringing home experiences that had taken him from the Georgia Supreme Court to Eisenhower's wartime headquarters, across liberated and occupied Europe, into the administration of postwar Germany, and even onto the judicial bench of London's Old Bailey. Unfortunately, Reid would not have very long to enjoy his return home. Charles Simpson Reid died in 1947 at only 50 years old, bringing an extraordinary life and career to an unexpectedly early end.
Today, Reid's remarkable story is largely forgotten, and that's one of the reasons this particular stop meant so much to us. When most people walk past the Old Bailey in London, understandably, Union County, Georgia, probably isn't the first place that comes to mind. But it came to ours. More than 80 years ago, someone who began his life in the mountains of Union County walked through these doors not simply as a tourist or visitor, but as an honored American jurist invited to take a place on one of the most historic judicial benches in the world. Sometimes our local history reaches much farther than we realize, and during our trip we felt this was an important place to visit for that very reason.
From Blairsville to Atlanta. From the Georgia Supreme Court to the United States Army. From Eisenhower's staff to occupied Germany. And, remarkably, from Union County, Georgia, to the Old Bailey in London, England.
That is the story of Charles Simpson Reid, and another example of just how far Union County history can travel.
